Acting on Gadgil report will hit coastal development: CM

MUMBAI: The implementation of the Madhav Gadgil committee report on the Western Ghats will bring development in four coastal districts of the state to a complete halt and lead to social tensions, said chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Chavan, along with his cabinet colleagues, met members of the Dr K Kasturirangan panel set up by the Centre to examine the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report on Tuesday at the Sahyadri state guest house.

"If the WGEEP report is implemented it will affect business and developmental work in the four coastal districts. It will adversely affect construction of new roads, rail routes, development of ports, housing and industries and even means of livelihood,'' Chavan said. The report directly affects 50 talukas in the Konkan, Chavan told Kasturirangan. The districts include Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Thane.

The committee chairman, Dr K Kasturirangan, while assuring the chief minister that the state's concerns would be taken into account, said, it is expected that the government would chalk out development plans keeping the region's biodiversity in mind. Kasturirangan said a report will be submitted to the Centre by February 16, 2013.

"The WGEEP is a well-researched report on how to protect the biodiversity in the Western Ghats but there is a need to take a re-look at some of its recommendations,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Madhav Gadgil said, "The current development is an imposition where the stakeholders have not been taken into confidence. If development decisions are based on the rule of law and through a democratic process, it will be pro-environment and pro-people."